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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Goverment-Funded Study Concludes That Education Is Bad For The Environment

Because when people get an education, find success in their careers and make money they tend to consume more energy and natural resources.  And that, of course, is bad.

This passage is taken from the Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit, which was written by Dr. Rosalyn McKeown of the University of Tennessee:

Generally, more highly educated people, who have higher incomes, consume more resources than poorly educated people, who tend to have lower incomes.  In this case, more education increases the threat to sustainability. . . .

Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Statistical Yearbook and World Education Report, for example, show that in the United States more than 80 percent of the population has some post-secondary education, and about 25 percent of the population has a four-year degree from a university. Statistics also show that per-capita energy use and waste generation in the United States are nearly the highest in the world.  In the case of the United States, more education has not led to sustainability. Clearly, simply educating citizenry to higher levels is not sufficient for creating sustainable societies.  The challenge is to raise the education levels without creating an ever-growing demand for resources and consumer goods and the accompanying production of pollutants.

So, in summary, we should be trying to find out how to educate people without letting them become affluent and thus wanting creature comforts like nice cars, large homes, electronic gadgets, etc.  All for the sake of cutting back on pollution. Sound...rather Orwellian?  It is.  And notice that there’s no mention of finding ways to provide “consumer goods” that cause less pollution.  Only mention of reducing demand for those consumer goods.  Because I guess that’s the role of government.  To keep us from wanting things.

Dr. McKeown’s work on this “toolkit,” per the North Dakota Policy Council, was made possible by the Waste Management Resource and Education Institute, an organization that receives 78.5% of its funding from the US Department of Education, the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.  Meaning the funding for this nonsense about keeping people poor and uneducated for the sake of the environment (or, at the very least, making people want less stuff) came out of your wallets.

As I’ve been saying for a while now, global warming for many isn’t so much about actually protecting the environment as it’s about a desire to control every aspect of your life.  If “pollution” can be used as an excuse to keep you from getting that new SUV you want, or from buying that new Blackberry you’ve had your eye on, these big-government liberals who are pushing environmentalism are going to do it.  Because what they really want is power.

Comments

So if we were all liberal do-nothings everything would be good.


The Debate is over!  Global Whining has been confirmed.


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The Whistler on October 30, 2007 at 03:47 pm
Rob
Rob
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I guess that’s the logic.


The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is… legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay … If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

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Rob on October 30, 2007 at 03:51 pm

As I’ve been saying for a while now, global warming for many isn’t so much about actually protecting the environment as it’s about a desire to control every aspect of your life.

Absolutely, Rob.  For one way they are proposing to do it, go here:

http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/the_path_to_global_warming_totalitarianism/


"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

robert108 on October 30, 2007 at 05:04 pm
Avatar for Mrs. Daniel Alvarez

This is outrageous, one cant be blamed for pollution just because they have a higher education. It seems as if there is no one else to blame. A person with a high school education is at blame just as much as a person with a P.h.d.

Mrs. Daniel Alvarez on October 30, 2007 at 05:48 pm
Avatar for LifeTrek

As I’ve been saying for a while now, global warming for many isn’t so much about actually protecting the environment as it’s about a desire to control every aspect of your life.

Exactly!  That is why many of the former communists and socialists landed here when they lost the Soviet Union.

The problem is that, for reasons I have never understood, environmentalists see man as being in constant opposition to nature rather then what he actually is, an actual part of nature.  We can’t even manage to kill a bacteria when we try without it finding a way to adapt, but we can kill the world by accident?  Pretty arrogant thinking there!

Case in point, researchers in Israel report that oil dispersants—the best tool for treating oil spills in tropical areas --are significantly more toxic to coral than the oil they are used to clean up. (Sciencedaily.com)

Face it, we don’t know what we are doing and yet the solution to some of the enviro-wackos is to eliminate man or at least our modern lifestyle.
DKK

LifeTrek on October 30, 2007 at 05:52 pm
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Let me add that this entire premise is backwards.  It is the most educated and the wealthiest societies that have the energy, money, and time to clean up the earth.

Face it, poor people are too worried about eating today (rightfully) to concern themselves with sustainability.  (an aside ever wonder why those feed the children commercial kids don’t reach down and pick up some of that trash they are walking over instead of trying to shock us by showing it?)

The solution to environmental issues is a wealthier and more educated population.  The Einstein of the environment may be born today.
DKK

LifeTrek on October 30, 2007 at 06:03 pm
Avatar for MICHELLE

I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT POLLUTION OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT GOES WRONG IN THIS WORLD SHOULD EVER BLAME SOMEONE FOR HAVING A HIGHER EDUCATION. MORE PEOPLE SHOULD GO TO SCHOOL AND CONTINUE TO GROW THEIR EDUCATION, I THINK IT IS BEYOND REDICULOUS TO BLAME SOMEONE WITH AN EDUCATION FOR POLLUTION. EVERYONE IS TO BLAME NOT JUST ONE GROUP OF PEOPLE

MICHELLE on October 30, 2007 at 06:07 pm
Avatar for Sobe

I really disagree with this topic.  Mrs. Daniel Alvarez stated, “One cant be blamed for pollution just because they have a higher education.” This world is polluted because people do not care; not because of an higher education.  This is simply wrong.

Sobe on October 30, 2007 at 06:13 pm

Michelle, perhaps you should avail yourself of some of that education, so as you can learned to typed.

Having been in 3rd world and Eastern European countries I can assure you that less educated populations mean massive amounts of pollution. Turn a industrial plant over to people who do not know how to run it and see what you get. Hell, a short trip to Mexico will clearly illustrate this.


Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

2Hotel9 on October 30, 2007 at 07:00 pm
Avatar for Steve Dennis

I have been saying that global warming is an excuse for liberals to raise taxes, but lately I am beginning to wonder if they are pushing an anti-capitalist, pro-socialist agenda.

Steve Dennis on October 30, 2007 at 07:04 pm

I can assure you that less educated populations mean massive amounts of pollution.

Yeah! But there’s nothing quite like a home cooked meal, cooked over an animal dung fire!



Those who think the party or the country, will be “taught a lesson” by handing the levers of power over to the liberals will learn a lesson, but it will be at the expense of our country and her liberties. And there are no guarantees that the party or the country will come out stronger, more conservative or better positioned to win elections against the incumbent liberals.

Proof on October 30, 2007 at 07:14 pm

So, in summary, we should be trying to find out how to educate people without letting them become affluent and thus wanting creature comforts like nice cars, large homes, electronic gadgets, etc.

You think that is why our public schools are dumbing down our children?  After all, one doesn’t expect people that can’t read, write and do simple math to be very successful.


Being liberal is never having to admit you’re wrong

docdave on October 30, 2007 at 07:35 pm
Avatar for Adam

Well I suppose I should go burn my college diploma....or wait, do you think that might make too big of a carbon footprint? Maybe I should buy some offsets first?

Adam on October 30, 2007 at 07:36 pm

Maybe I should buy some offsets first?

I can get you some! I have an offset press!



Those who think the party or the country, will be “taught a lesson” by handing the levers of power over to the liberals will learn a lesson, but it will be at the expense of our country and her liberties. And there are no guarantees that the party or the country will come out stronger, more conservative or better positioned to win elections against the incumbent liberals.

Proof on October 30, 2007 at 07:42 pm

I don’t think they sent me one.


The Debate is over!  Global Whining has been confirmed.


The Whistler's signature
The Whistler on October 30, 2007 at 07:42 pm

You think that is why our public schools are dumbing down our children?  After all, one doesn’t expect people that can’t read, write and do simple math to be very successful.

It seems like every science and social(ism) studies class they send home has to do with the environment.  I don’t mind telling the kids once in a while that the teacher’s full of beans but it’s not good doing that too much.


The Debate is over!  Global Whining has been confirmed.


The Whistler's signature
The Whistler on October 30, 2007 at 07:43 pm
Avatar for Milky Mike

Don’t worry… Some of us youngin’s know how to think.  And actually, many of those youngin’s you elders worry about, have been faking their enthusiasm… At least I hope so wink.

Milky Mike on October 30, 2007 at 11:14 pm

This is a new flavor of class envy from the left.

Low income folks generally live in energy inefficient homes, thus wasting more energy per square foot.

It is silly to blame man for global warming - there are many more women out there.

Mickey on October 31, 2007 at 06:04 am
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